Chapter Two - Like A Man Posessed

(Present time)

Despite his attempts to stop, Lucas felt his leg shaking as it bounced up and down against the floor, his arms crossed uncomfortably over his bare chest. Karen, his mother, began to pace like a mad woman around the room, not even speaking. You'd have to be deaf not to hear the screams coming from Larry in the next room over, but Lucas stayed silent. If his mother wasn't going to yell at him, then he certainly wasn't going to push his luck by saying anything to anger her.

Karen's mouth continued to open and close, but no words seemed to escape. The raven haired woman was obviously podering what to say, not wanting to jump at things from the wrong angle like she was sure that her husband had with Peyton. Instead, she continued to walk around the room, every once and a while running a hand through her hair or letting out a loud huff. Usually, Lucas would take it as a good sign that his mother hadn't begun to scream, but he knew her too well. This was the calm before the storm.

Just as Lucas was about to stand up, his mother forcefully pushed him back down, finally seeming to have realized the gravity of the situation. "How could you have--" She began, but stopped mid-sentence, still not sure that she wanted to go about it in that particular way. "What were you thin--" She began once again, but stopped. "Nevermind. Don't answer that. I don't think I wanna know.." Karen muttered under her breath, runnning a hand over her face in an attempt to calm herself down.

She looked back down at her son, who seemed completely un-phased by her sudden outburst. Karen shook her head in disbelief, Larry's screams suddenly ceasing. Well, she'd take that as her cue. "Did I raise an idiot?" She finally asked, raising her voice only slightly.

Lucas sighed and shook his head, leaning his back fully against the computer chair so that he was 'lounging'. No, he wasn't an idiot. As a matter of fact, he was in the top ten percent of his class. Certainly not 'idiot' material. But, he did make some awful decisions when it came to Peyton. His vision got clouded when he was around her and things just escalated everytime that they saw eachother. Something as innocent as a look from across the room would cause them to stumble into a bedroom together, tangled up in eachother.

He opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by Karen's hand in his face. "Don't answer that, damnit! It was a rhetorical question!" She repromanded him, shaking her head once again. Karen once again began to pace around the room, obviously terrified of what was going on. Her son and her step-daughter had just been caught kissing..On top of one another..Shirtless. Oh no, Karen. Get those damn images out of your head! For the love of God and everything Holy..

The exact second that the thought entered her mind, Karen grabbed Lucas's shirt off of the messy bed and threw it at him hastily. "Put some clothes on." She said snarkily before sitting down on the bed. How many times had they done this? Where? Karen quickly stood back up, figuring that they'd probably had their 'secret meetings' in one of the bedrooms most often. Okay, how insanely disguisting was that?

The older woman crossed her arms over her chest and sighed, walking around the room as she thought of what to say. How do you even put into words what happened? What was she supposed to ask? They never taught you this kind of thing in Parenting Class. Karen could only imagine what would be on the agenda if they did teach this sort of thing. Parenting 101: How to stop your child from sleeping with his step-sister.

Karen finally sat down next to Lucas, sitting on top of Peyton's computer desk. She looked around the bedroom and at the art on the walls, wondering how she hadn't seen any of this before. In almost every single piece of art, there was a boy with her. His face was always blocked out, but it was obvious who it was. It was Lucas.

She tore her eyes away from the drawings and looked down at her hands before over at her son, who was still sitting on the chair. Karen swallowed with much difficulty and attempted to stay calm. "If I ask you to tell me what happened, do you promise to leave all of the details out of it?" She asked with a small half smile, hoping to lighten the mood.

Lucas looked down and laughed, nodding his head. "That won't be a problem." He assured his mother, glad that she still had a slight sense of humor through this whole mess. Where was he supposed to begin? When had their relationship really taken off? Well, he assumed that it was about three months ago. Karen and Larry were off on one of their little 'dates' and Peyton and Lucas were home alone. It was Friday night and neither of them had anything to do..Except annoy the hell out of eachother.

Karen nodded just slightly and sent Lucas a quick sideways glance, waiting for him to begin to tell his tale. When he didn't, she furrowed her eyebrows together in confusion, a large frown now being worn on her lips. "How long has this been going on for, Lucas?" She questioned cautiously.

Lucas smiled. He knew that he wasn't suppsosed to and that it wasn't exactly the reaction that his mother was expecting, but he couldn't help himself. "..About three months.." He admitted, looking up at his mother with the same smile on his face. That was what thinking about Peyton did to him. It made him smile.

Karen's eyes widened in shock and she grabbed a magazine, rolled it up, and swatted Lucas over the head with it. She threw it back down onto the desk, almost wishing that she'd never asked him in the first place. "Three months!" She practically screamed. She'd expected a week. Maybe two. Three months? That was almost a real relationship!

She noted the smile on the blonde boy's lips and she rolled her eyes, sending him a death glare. "Why the hell are you smiling, Lucas Eugene Scott?" She asked, using his full name just because she could do that. It was a mother thing and she enjoyed using it to her advantage every single chance that she got.

Lucas's smile only widened, his head facing down as his blue eyes focused on the carpet. "..Because I'm in love with her." He admitted, looking up at his mother, almost pleadnig with her not to kill him. He knew that the relationship was a lot for her to handle, but he had really hoped that his mother would accept it. They couldn't not be together. It was far too difficult. It wasn't like they hadn't tried to break things off. They had. Many times, but they failed time and time again. One of them would realize that a relationship wouldn't work and they would break up with the other.

Karen's eyes nearly tripled in size and she swallowed the lump in her throat. Love? He was eighteen years old. He couldn't possibly even know the meaning of the word. So, instead of freaking out on him like she could have, she stayed calm, wanting to get the full story.

"How did this first begin?" She asked. Just as Lucas opened his mouth, Karen held her hand up to stop him, her eyes closed tightly. "Please remember to leave out the details, Lucas. I don't want a heart attack." Karen pleaded with him, re-opening her eyes and peering at her son cautiously.

Lucas laughed once again and nodded his head, not sure where he should begin. "Well, I guess it was that night...You and Larry just told us you were getting engaged and you guys went out to celebrate.." He recalled, trying to remember back those three months. Once it finally clicked in his brain, Lucas was able to recall every last detail of that night.

-- Flashback --

(Three Months Ago)

Lucas sat on the couch, watching as the Bobcats once again gave up another basket. He rolled his eyes and sighed, not saying a word. Although he wanted to scream at the top of his lungs, it seemed pointless. The game was a repeat from last night and he already knew of their horrible defeat. Yelling at the television wouldn't make the players change what they had already done.

Peyton, who had been sitting in the corner of the room sketching, finally spoke up. She continued to stare at her drawing with the pencil stuck between her teeth, her words coming out semi-muffled. "You do realize that it's just a game, right?" She asked indifferently, her voice showing absolutely no emotion whatsoever. "A game that kept me awake all last night, by the way, because you and my dad wouldn't shut the hell up about it.." She continued on, throwing the pad down onto the table with a half smirk.

Lucas tore his eyes away from the television just in time to miss the final buzzer, the Bobcats losing the game. He leaned forward to grab the pad from the coffee table and began to sift through it, sketch after sketch. His eyes combed over each and every single drawing, the smirk on his face fading. "Wow, Peyt. These are really good." He admitted.

Things were different between them now. Although they weren't friends, the two no longer ignored eachother in school. Peyton stepped off of her pedestal a bit and Lucas did as well, trying not to be such a jackass around her. They were going to have to learn to compromise if they ever wanted to make these living arrangements work. They had been living under the same roof for a couple of weeks now and, although Peyton wished she could say that her 'crush' was gone, that was a complete and total lie.

It was at an all time high. Now, instead of having to look at him at school, Peyton was forced to watch him getting out of the bathroom in a towel or playing basketball shirtless. Just at the thought alone, Peyton's eyes began to comb over his body. She stopped herself almost immediately and closed her eyes, rubbing her forehead. Stop it, Peyton!

When she finally gained the courage to look back over at Lucas, he obviously hadn't noticed her staring at all. He was too focused on her sketches. She stood up from her chair in the corner of the room and sat down on the couch, crawling over so that she was closer to him. Peyton peered over his shoulder and smiled just slightly, noticing the sketch that he seemed to be stuck on. The sketch of her mother.

Lucas's thumb ran over every single feature of the beautiful woman who was drawn in the picture and he smiled, concentrating completely on the picture. "Peyton, this is amazing.." He admitted, turning his head and looking at her. Because of the way that she had been positioned, Lucas's face was mere centimeters away from hers. He swallowed the large yet growing lump in his throat and blinked a couple of times, trying to focus on something other than her lips.

Peyton did the same, but couldn't will herself to move. She knew that she should and her mind was screaming at her to do so, but she simply couldn't. She looked down at his lips, her eyes slowly scanning up the features of his face and into his eyes. Her green eyes locked with his blue ones and the only sound that could be heard in the room was the sketch pad falling off of the couch.

Lucas, of course, made the first move. He brought his hand up to lightly stroke her cheek before pressing their foreheads together. He closed his eyes tightly and leaned in, his lips gently grazing hers. This was wrong on so many levels. There were so many reasons that they shouldn't be doing this, but they were. Lucas couldn't stop himself and, for some reason, Peyton couldn't either.

Peyton felt Lucas's lips connect with hers and she brought her hand up to his face, resting her palm on his cheek as the passionate yet longing kiss continued on. It deepened after a couple of seconds, Peyton making the first move and opening her mouth. Their tongues collided for a couple of seconds but they then reluctantly pulled away, their foreheads still pressed together.

Lucas brought his other hand up to cup Peyton's face in his hands, leaning in to kiss her one more time as gently as he possibly could. Peyton returned the kiss, the lips barely moving as they laid on top of one anothers contently. Peyton felt incomplete when Lucas finally chose to pull away from her. It felt as if his forehead was supposed to be pressed against hers and his lips were supposed to be connected with her own.

He looked over at her and then stood up, trying to stay strong. That didn't mean anything. It couldn't mean anything. "It can never happen again." Was all he said before dissapearing into his bedroom.

Peyton was left sitting on the couch, one hand on her lips and the other at her side, completely and utterly dumbfounded. Had that just happened?

Authors Note: Everyoneneeds to read 'Let Me Go' by P. Sawyer (AKA Kaylaalaa) because it's totally amazing. kthanks. )